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Obama goes for Starbucks run (without the press)

President Obama broke containment Monday -- he split the White House without the media pool. The president and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough -- and Secret Service agents -- walked a block down

"The bear is loose," Obama said, repeating a remark he made last month during a walk to the Interior Department (with the pool tagging along for the duration of that jaunt).

In the past, presidents have been known to leave the White House without the press pool that traditionally accompany them. But it doesn't happen very often, and always draws protests from reporters when it does.

Like his predecessors, Obama has noted that the White House can be an awfully confining place.

On his way back to the White House on Monday, Obama stopped and chatted with onlookers, including a hot dog vendor and construction workers at the Renwick Gallery.

At one point, the president asked staff members to make sure that late-arriving journalists and photographers gave him space.